Zack Kassian

March 20, 2012

Well I suppose it should figure. The Sabres finally thump an opponent and can't move up in the standings. Going into last night's games Buffalo was only two points out of eighth behind the Caps, who were playing the otherwise reliable Red Wings. But as luck would have it, Washington breezed past Detroit 5-3 while the Sabres smacked the Lightning 7-3.

This is why it's so hard to close even a two-point gap down the stretch. It's hard enough to compel the hockey gods to smile on you while you pray for teams to lose after you flop in OT; it's even harder to expect them to come through when you win and stand to gain ground.

I figured Buffalo's season was pretty much over after they coughed up two big points during back-to-back overtime losses against Colorado and Florida, so you have to give them credit for a big win that at least allowed them to keep pace with the Caps. However, there is almost no room for error in a homestretch that features games against the Rangers, Caps, Penguins, Flyers, and Bruins.

Yikes.

Given the remainder of Buffalo's schedule, I'm not sure it would've even mattered if Buffalo had been able to move into a tie for eighth last night. In a perverse sort of way, I think this makes the rest of the games easier to watch since I'm not expecting them to make the playoffs. Less stressful and all that.

﻿Come to think of it, you know what? I'm not sure I actually want them to make it. I love watching hockey and I prefer to watch my team whenever possible, but I think failing to make the playoffs will be better for the team in the long run.

I think we've concluded that Darcy is going nowhere, so I'm wondering if a failed season wouldn't encourage Regier to be even more aggressive in the offseason than he's already planning to be. After all, squeaking into the playoffs would seem to lend even more validation to the idea that the big prize was ours for the taking if not for all the injuries. As I've said in the past, injuries obviously contributed to plenty of losses, but any good, hardworking team with leadership and depth shouldn't fall into the abyss because of them, either.

Regardless of how things shake out the rest of the way, there have been some very nice developments this season for the Sabres:

- I think Tyler Ennis's games lost to high ankle sprains were a lot more detrimental than most people originally thought, and it's pretty clear he needs to play center.

- Paul Gaustad's loss was really not much of a loss at all, and I can't wait to see how Regier parlays the first round pick he got from Nashville in return.

- After at least three seasons of keeping us wondering, Andrej Sekera has finally turned into the reliable defensemen most were expecting. He logs a lot of minutes, has started to limit turnovers, runs the power play and, most importantly, has gained enough confidence to realize he belongs. Instead of demonstrating bursts of potential, he's started to play consistently well on a nightly basis. That's all you can really ask.

- Brayden McNabb is already a stud. His addition to the regular roster will immediately improve the D next season and likely make another top six defenseman expendable for use as trade bait in order to bolster other areas of the roster or add more depth to the organization.

- Holy Marcus Foligno. Where did this guy come from? This could all just be beginner's luck, but at only 20 years of age Foligno has been among the most dominant players on the ice for the Sabres the past week or so. I think we're starting to see why Regier was so comfortable trading Zack Kassian for Cody Hodgson.

- Speaking of Hodgson, who just turned 22, he should become a pivotal piece to the Sabres puzzle in the near future. Fundamentally sound and possessing what appears to be a good work ethic, he kind of resembles a young Chris Drury. He's probably not going to put up 30 goals a year, but it can't be easy getting traded to a new team with only a quarter of the season remaining, yet he already appears to be very comfortable at center and communicating with his new teammates. I don't know if this trade will end up being Briere for Gratton, but it could honestly be close.

- But back to Foligno. This kid deserves a little more elaboration. At 6-3 and over 220 pounds, Foligno is a force. He's just as strong on the puck as Kassian is and appears to have an even better knack for the net. Now here's something I've always wondered if I'd ever write on a Sabres blog. Back when Kassian was first brought up I googled some of his hockey fights. I can't remember who he was fighting, but I recall that it was a guy who was older and who'd spent considerable time in the NHL. Kassian mostly wrestled him to a draw, but in the background of the video was Marcus Foligno pummeling another player pretty handily. It's funny now to recall that, at that time, I thought the person who posted the video might have been focusing on the wrong guy.

This sounds a little pretentious to say now that Kassian's been traded, but I wondered more than a few times since training camp -- Erik can corroborate this -- whether he was a little overhyped. I also wondered if the Sabres organization was always a little concerned about his reputation, given that he's been arrested for a bar fight and suspended a couple different times for borderline dirty hits before he got to the NHL. Granted, this is all speculation, but I guess I'm just saying that if the Sabres were at all concerned about any of this stuff over the past couple years, Marcus Foligno probably made their decision about Kassian pretty easy.

I can't believe I'm going to say this because it's probably way too early and I'll end up looking like a moron, but if I had to pick one player that Marcus Foligno resembles, I'd have to say Jordan Staal. Foligno isn't a center, of course, but he (by all accounts at present, at least) is strong on the puck, very responsible defensively, and unafraid to get his nose dirty in front of the net (which, as we've already seen, tends to result in goals).

At the start of the year, I don't think the Sabres figured that Foligno would be playing such a big role down the stretch. But at the same time, I don't think they figured they'd be fighting just to make the playoffs, either. I doubt as well that they thought Ville Leino would struggle so much and that Derek Roy, Drew Stafford, and Ryan Miller would have off-years.

However, if this season has revealed anything, it's that this team right at this moment has a very nice mixture of veteran leadership and reliable young talent, both of which are imperative to success and eventual championships. It's also interesting to note that Tyler Myers and Tyler Ennis, two cornerstones to the Sabres' future who are closer to being veteran leaders than rookies, are still only 22.

If Regier can pick up Ryan Getzlaf during the offseason and this team can learn to play with some emotion and grit from the first game to the last, the future is now.

January 09, 2012

Well, technically they're 0-1-1 but whatever. Looks like the team is going to have to find yet another panacea du jour for getting back to the win column, because anyone with an IQ above room temperature knows the Sabres' injuries have played a very minimal role in their lackluster performance of late.

Obviously injuries aren't irrelevant, but what's pissed off Sabres fans the most over the past month or so is twofold: 1) the club's propensity to place more emphasis on making excuses for losses than on finding ways to win, and 2) the front office's insistence upon pussyfooting around with a GM/head coach tandem that has overstayed its welcome while yet another (potentially salvageable) season washes down the drain.

As I've mentioned several times before, injuries are not the problem. No one wants to be without guys like Tyler Myers and Christian Ehrhoff, but players get hurt; good teams can accommodate short-term injuries.

Take a look at the D right now. The Sabres are absent Christian Ehrhoff and Andrej Sekera. If you plan to argue that Sekera is any sort of significant loss whatsoever, please pass the hooka now because I need some of what you're having. And Ehrhoff wasn't even on the team last year yet it found a way to make the playoffs without him.

So this year -- right now, even without Ehrhoff -- the Sabres' defensive corps has Myers, Leopold, and Weber -- all holdovers from last season -- only they've exchanged guys like Morrisonn, Butler, Montador, and Rivet for Regehr, McNabb, and Gragnani.

Would anyone out there actually take last year's lineup over the one that will take the ice tomorrow night against Toronto, even absent Ehrhoff and Sekera for now? I sure as hell wouldn't.

Injuries are not the problem. Hell, most Sabres fans would tell you that the reason the team got it together last year was because Derek Roy missed most of the season. If that's the case, what's the excuse now? That underachiever Tyler Ennis is still out? Please.

When Lindy Ruff has the luxury of making Zack Kassian a healthy scratch -- which, if you ask me, is just plain stupid -- you can't really bitch about injuries. I love Matt Ellis. Would that even half the team had his fucking heart. But the guy looks like a cat in a bathtub when he stickhandles, and you play him over Kassian? If anything, maybe try playing him in addition to Kassian and benching any forward not named Vanek or Pominville for a game or two. Gee, there's a thought.

Injuries are not the problem. However, Ryan Miller sucks. The forwards making $4 million a year couldn't hit a 25-cent whore with a roll of quarters in their pocket, much less the back of a net. Lindy Ruff allows/encourages soft play and from what I can tell has essentially lost his team. Blah, blah, blah.

So what cosmic events have conspired to cause this perfect storm of shittiness? Who knows? Probably a lot of things, and most likely many intangible ones at that. I've never been the kind of person to advocate change simply for the sake of changing, but you can't fix intangibles without changing the tangibles. It's already 2012. They're long overdue.

There's a reason a team with the third-highest payroll in the league can't win. There's a reason it doesn't retaliate against a team that runs its goaltender. There's a reason it refuses to lay bodychecks on an equally weak team that's obviously travel weary.

There's always a reason for everything. I'd love to get paid to figure it out if the Sabres would like to give me a shot. After all, I'd love the job security.

January 05, 2012

I almost never have time most nights to sit down and watch anything real time, but I managed to take some notes during Tuesday night's game while I was watching the tape. I figured I'd post my exact comments as I jotted them down and then elaborate now if necessary.

First Period

- T.J. Brennan is good and is going to be very good. Sweeps puck out of the crease less than three minutes into the game and saves what certainly would've been an easy tap-in for Edmonton.

(Buffalo is without Ehrhoff, Sekera, and Myers but I really don't see any gaping holes in the D that weren't there prior to the injuries. Sekera is tremendously average and Myers was hardly playing his best hockey when he broke his wrist, so that leaves Ehrhoff as the only loss that could noticeably impact the production of the defense. He logs huge minutes and is generally steady, but keep in mind that injury replacements aren't always the detriment they may appear to be on paper. Whereas teams key on Ehrhoff every game and keep him in check, guys like Brennan and McNabb aren't nearly as well-scouted yet, so good teams can take advantage of this, um, advantage.

- Good idea by Ruff to play Kassian with Vanek and utilize his talents as a top six forward

(Well, that didn't last long. Maybe two shifts.)

- There's a lot of talk about M.A. Gragnani's subpar performance. Yes, you'd rather have Ehrhoff and Myers, but if Grags isn't capable of filling in to the point where the team expects to win, he shouldn't have made the roster in the first place.

(Translation: I'm tired of listening to this club blame losses in part on injuries. If Ruff thought Gragnani was good enough to make the team, he should expect him to be good enough to play in this league, even if his ideal role at this point is to be used as an injury sub. I know, shocker.

- Injuries are not the problem. Buffalo is getting outplayed by a team on its sixth game of a roadie that got into town at 2 a.m. the day of the game.

(If anything, Buffalo has impressive depth that would render this rash of injuries essentially moot on many other teams, namely those that realized that body checks are a part of hockey. Not to mention, injuries really only impact specific parts of the game, like special teams or shootouts. If guys like Vanek are playing, you should be fine. Most other players are filler. That said, if Vanek goes down, the Sabres' season is all but over (if it isn't already).

- Speaking of injuries, we're into the part of the season where guys need to start playing with pain. I'd be interested to know how many guys on the shelf right now could play if they really wanted to.

(Tyler Ennis, I'm looking at you. High ankle sprains suck so I could be wrong. However, note to Christian Ehrhoff: If you can't fight without putting yourself out for "weeks," don't fucking fight! It's not like you can win anyway. Kudos, however, to Jason Pominville for sucking it up when he probably felt pretty shitty after having the flu. Very captainly.)

- Great goal allowed by Miller. WEAK!

(Hey, lots of goalies allow goals under their glove arm from bad angles. Just not ones making $6 million a year!)

- Zack Kassian's passing is not good in the first period. Then again, this has been a pretty shitty period by the Sabres in general.

Second Period

- Brennan loses the puck and turns it over in his own zone but recovers to make a nice shot block.

- Equally shitty charging call on Kaleta for what appeared to be a perfectly good smack on Ladislav Smid. Maybe I just missed the part where the refs outlawed hitting tonight. That would at least explain Buffalo's lethargic approach to the game.

- I'm so tired of Ryan Miller and his soft over-the-shoulder goals.

(Given Miller's salary and atrocious season, I honestly doubt he'd get picked up even if he were waived. No shit. So anyone thinking Regier would be able to trade him even if he wanted to may as well stop dreaming.

Third Period

- Buffalo looks like the team that got in at 2 a.m.

- These guys just refuse to hit and take control of an opponent that almost seems to be waiting to be steamrolled. The Oilers weren't even willing to kick Roy's ass after he shot a puck on Khabibulin well after the whistle at the start of the third.

- Against ANY other team not in Edmonton's situation, the Sabres would easily be down 5-2 at this point.

- Sabres used to play down to their competition's level. Now they just don't really seem to give a shit against anyone.

December 19, 2011

Is there anything to say anymore? Every day I read about this team. I read what they say in their post-game interviews and what fans and journalists say in reaction to what was said in those interviews. And now, I'm officially lost. There is not one simple answer to this dilemma.

Fire the coach; fire the GM; trade Miller; trade Roy; trade everyone but Vanek! In a nutshell, that's pretty much what I read every day. I'm not saying that I don't agree with those statements, it's just getting old and it's starting to burn me out. I want a change too, I just don't think we're getting one, or any for that matter.

The echoes of the Florence and the Machine song the Sabres used in their promo video for Pegula Day months ago have long faded away into the darkness. I remember the first time watching it, being on the verge of letting go almost 30 years worth of tears from frustration and anger. Welling up as I experienced my first real feeling of hope in I don't know how long. Now as I look back, I can at least allow myself to laugh at the thought that the simple change of an owner could get the same overpaid Sabres core to work on a nightly basis.

Lindy has made some poor choices in the captain's department [again] this year. I'm still trying to see what Ruff sees in Roy and Stafford. Their post-game interviews are so pathetic, appearing more like they're begging for sympathy rather than doing what they're supposed to be: Setting the example for their teammates. And the image of Gaustad not sticking up for Miller against Boston still resonates in my mind. It still makes me sick.

I don't know how the whole captain thing works, I don't know if players ever get their letters revoked. All I know is that I'm in favor of stripping Roy's and Stafford's and giving them to Regehr and Kassian. I know that Kassian is just a kid, but judging by his play alone, he's more of a leader on the ice than anyone. And Regehr just knows what needs to be done. Imagine how frustrating it must be for him to look in the eyes of most of his teammates. By the way, I still think Vanek should be carrying the "C" too.

I don't see this team going anywhere this year. And judging by the patience of Ted Black, I don't see them going anywhere next year either. I do believe that eventually this team will succeed in the future under this ownership, but the array of issues right now are so spread across the board, it's going to end up taking years if they continue to be this patient. Being more of a pessimist, I sometimes wonder if I'll be around to see it when the day actually comes. Ever heard of a Chicago Cubs fan?

This team needs to be gutted. If you ask me who I'd like to keep around, you'd probably be surprised that my list wouldn't even make it to a sixth finger. I'm not going to get into top ten lists or anything like that, just know that beyond Vanek, Kassian, Regehr, and the bunches of the impressive, inexpensive young talent that has come through recently, I don't think you'd notice much of a difference if most others walked.

It's just going to be a process, and it's hard to swallow another year of apparent failure after being so hyped up before the season even began. I guess I should have known better. I guess we all should have known better. That includes Terry Pegula and Ted Black too. They should've known that this team wouldn't even have been for sale in the first place if Regier and Ruff were adequate men for the job. Championships are a great value booster to a team, and Golisano probably would've been a little more reluctant to sell the team if they were winning back when he was around.

December 13, 2011

Fifteen years ago I would be freaking out about the Sabres recent spate of injuries. But I guess there's just something about pushing 40 that makes you realize there's more important things in life than worrying about the respective fates of charmed 20-somethings.

Or maybe it's just that I can barely bring myself to care much about sports these days after realizing that I'm now too old to play pro hockey even if I were once good enough (which I wasn't).

Whatever the case, there's a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with my newfound sobriety towards the Buffalo Sabres (however depressing its genesis may be). Whereas I was unable to approach my Sabres analysis with little more than unbridled emotion back in the day, I now find myself capable of applying the same type of rationality that I bring to virtually any other situation. (Okay, most of the time.. fuck off.)

Like every other Sabres fan, I've had a long time to assess and digest the abilities of Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier. A looooong time. These guys are clearly two of the best in their field at what they do. They're both Grade A talents with A-Class character. I don't think that's ever really been in question. One thing that is in question, however, is whether these guys are the right men for the job in Buffalo.

After all these years together, Ruff and Regier might as well literally be joined at the hip. Regier is not going to fire Ruff. If Ruff ever goes, Regier will be going with him. Regier will never fire his best friend. Never. You just don't do that sort of thing, and as a man I can at least respect that.

I'd be willing to bet it's Ruff and Regier's relationship over the past dozen years that's been the primary cause of most of the good that's come to the Sabres organization during that span, nearly all of which probably goes unseen by the fans and in some cases even ownership. Building trust between employer and employee is crucial to performance; treating subordinates as peers often breeds respect. However, too much trust can lead to complacency. And if you're not careful, being too friendly with your players can extinguish respect for authority. You get the idea. Every benefit has a cost.

And so it is with the injury bug.

As I think we've all written a couple times, I don't like the team's reliance on all the injuries as the reason for its poor record the past few weeks. If anything, it's primarily the roster players who have made untimely decisions that have cost the Sabres wins. That said, Ruff has done a good job managing the lineup and lines during a stretch that no coach would ever want to endure. Although hardly tough decisions, he has rewarded Kassian for his outstanding play with increased ice time, and he's also made the right call in keeping Brayden McNabb in Buffalo despite Mike Weber's return to the lineup. Similarly, the fantastic play of guys like Kassian, McNabb, Tropp, and Brennan -- especially given their NHL inexperience -- is a testament to Regier's ability to draft and develop top talent. These two guys will have jobs in the NHL as long as they want them.

Ironically, however, we're nevertheless left to wonder why the Sabres play so inconsistently night in and night out. (This is not unique to the Sabres, but not every coach enjoys a 13-year tenure with one club either.) Why they refuse to finish checks unless they feel like it. Why Thomas Vanek, Cody McCormick, and Pat Kaleta have trouble finding teammates who will actually bust their asses every goddamned shift like they do. Why a system that has lost effectiveness after taking teams by surprise six years ago seemingly hasn't adapted even though the rest of the league has caught on to the secret. Why a power play has, on balance, buh-lown! for years. These are the responsibilities of the coach. Ruff has undeniably done very good things with subpar NHL talent over the years -- if we're to believe Regier's hands were tied under Golisano and Quinn, that is -- so I don't question his ability to coach; I question why he has not gotten better results considering he's had the luxury of knowing his team better than anyone save perhaps for Barry Trotz.

That said, even more interesting amid all these injuries is the Darcy Regier situation. Will GMDR finally move assets before they've overstayed their welcome now that we almost unquestionably know that the kids on the farm can play and perform? The silver lining to the injury bug is that Regier now knows (or should know) he has the luxury of dumping salary to gain cap space while simultaneously improving the team. (I know, right!!) Does anyone even remember Brad Boyes? Zack Kassian not only outperforms him right now, he costs over three million a year less. (Oh, and he kind of resembles that nasty Milan Lucic guy, who I would love to have on my team.) Corey Tropp is going to be awesome, so Regier could likely shop Kaleta right now before his propensity for injuries renders him damaged goods. Finally, even though Jochen Hecht brings intangibles and leadership, you can't tell me Szczechura isn't an even swap offensively if Hecht and his four million could be packaged to land one more big gun up front. By the way, we've still got Marcus Foligno in Rochester.

And I know Buffalo can never seem to have enough defensemen, but right now we have Ehrhoff, Myers, Leopold, Sekera, Gragnani, Regehr, Weber, and McNabb with Brennan, Finley, and Schiestel in the immediate pipeline. Seriously, there is no reason teams even score on us, much less any reason our D can't put the puck in the net every effing game. We have an imbalance of offensive defensemen already with more ready for promotion, so there's at least two that can be moved tomorrow. Myers-McNabb can be Niedermayer-Pronger in a few years, but anyone else is fair game. I think Sekera would look good in Ranger blue.

The tragic irony here is whether you actually want Darcy Regier at the controls when it comes to making decisions that will impact the team for years ahead. Ted Black should have his hands full right now, but if there's one thing that has to change for Regier to keep his job, he has to learn to cut his homegrown players loose. He won't fire Ruff, but if he refuses to acknowledge the opportunities before him and act now, we will have substantive proof that our addiction to untimely injuries is nothing compared to our deep-seated disease that is a complacent GM.

December 08, 2011

I went to college a half-hour south of Rochester so I'm pretty well-acquainted with the place. Granted, the majority of our trips into the city were drunken late-night runs to Nick Tahou's for a garbage plate, but still ... there's not much not to like about Roch.

Apparently Zack Kassian doesn't see it the same way, however, because he sure seems to be doing everything he can to avoid going back home.

The energy Kassian brings to the Sabres' lineup is a welcome addition in its own right, but if he keeps making plays like he did last night against Philly he's in Buffalo to stay. Kassian's no-look touch pass to Ville Leino for an empty net tap-in and a wrister through traffic that he later put past Ilya Bryzgalov demonstrated poise that belies the fact that he's only played half a dozen NHL games.

Admittedly, six games is hardly a statistically significant sample size, but at almost a point per game (3 goals, 2 assists in that span) and respectable ice time (average of 11-12 minutes TOI), all indications so far point to the kid being able to handle the responsibilities he's given.

In fact, as I mentioned to Erik last night during the game, Kassian basically makes Brad Boyes irrelevant, and I don't expect Boyes to make it through the entire season on this roster. Incidentally, the same can be said of Corey Tropp in comparison to Patrick Kaleta.

Interestingly, there's very little about the Sabres' recent skid that can be attributed to the play of the injury call-ups. I get the feeling that Lindy and the team are comfortable hanging their recent woes on their dearth of regulars, but it's been sloppy play and bad decision-making by roster players that's contributed most to the losses.

Put it this way: Matt Ellis is never gonna cost you a Cup. This certainly isn't the time of year to be gutting out injuries that could worsen to the point of costing players even more games, but if Darcy Regier is worth his salt, the play of guys like Kassian, Tropp, and Brayden McNabb has to be causing some of the regulars to think about just how much pain they're willing to play through.

November 27, 2011

Over the past few years, the Washington Capitals have had the luxury of using the Sabres as their personal whipping boys. I'm not going to do any serious research on the exact numbers, I just know that the scale has been tilted severely in the wrong direction.

The Sabres and Caps play each other four times a year, and if my memory serves me right, I don't think Buffalo ever wins more than once a year. So, the one in four odds look even more devastating to a team that has just lost eight important players (I'm not counting Miller, I just don't think he's relevant anymore). I gave them more of a one in sixteen chance last night, which is actually very generous considering their recent misfortunes.

I can't say that I really hate the Caps though (I'm not real big on hating teams for the sole fact that you can never beat them). I guess that's what living in Pittsburgh for ten years does to you. If you want to know what it's like to hate a team, live there. Not to go totally off course here, but I have never been around a more undeserving group of fans than I was while living there. There isn't any more of a Sabres/Penguins rivalry than there is a Sabres/Caps rivalry -- Buffalo's had a couple important games or series against both -- but just seeing how fair-weathered those people became when they got Crosby and started winning was disgusting to me. For Christ's sake, I'm pretty sure they've been bankrupt more times than the Sabres, but at least Buffalo's bankruptcy came as result of a felony, not as result of hockey boredom. I guess it's kinda like how Washington became when they got Ovechkin. Can't say that for sure though having never lived in or around the District.

There have been certain moments when I have not liked the Caps, like when Briere was boarded by Ovi into the open bench door, or when Olie the Goalie got hot for a week and ruined the Sabres' entire year. It's just that those few and far between moments never transcended into hatred. I guess when you find yourself cheering for them to beat the Pens every year in the playoffs you tend to let some of those things slide.

But let's get back to yesterday. To be completely honest, I wasn't even going to pay attention to the game last night. I had already been physically feeling like crap since Friday morning, and follow that up with the Colombus game later that night, why give a damn about something that would seemingly amplify the pain? The reason I watched at all was to see Kassian play. I would type the other guy's name too, but I don't feel like looking up how to spell it. Also, I never realized that Kassian's name was pronounced "Cash In"; hopefully that's some awesome foreshadowing toward what kind of player he'll be one day (or maybe just is already). It would save R.J. a lot of time and effort giving him his own little tag line too. Either way, good job netting your first goal, hope to see many more of those.

The thing that made me the most happy though was watching the Capitals steal a page out of the Sabres playbook and taking the majority of the night off, obviously resulting in their eventual demise. There seriously wasn't one moment of nervousness for the entire 60 minutes. The Caps definitely lost this one more than the Sabres won it, but what the hell, it's still fun to watch a game like that once in a while. The funniest thing was that you knew the Washington bench totally heard Rob Ray criticize their focus about ten times throughout the game, and they obviously didn't care. Priceless.

If the Capitals would've come out playing with a little more intensity, the game could have ended up much differently than it actually did. Judging by the Buffalo effort alone though, I still think the Sabres win that game by a goal or two. So I have every reason to believe that if Vanek, Pommer and the rest of the Rochester Americans work this hard every night, this rough, injury-filled time of the season could go unnoticed by the time everyone is healthy. In reality, it should set the bar even higher for the others when they return. I don't know, it's just one game, but it would be nice if that actually ended up being the situation in the end.

November 26, 2011

I'd be tempted to think I'm actually a psychic if the Sabres weren't so easy to read. As I suspected, Buffalo was flat-out absent last night against Columbus. The only problem was, no one bothered to tell the Blue Jackets they were supposed to take the night off too.

The Sabres, coming off an impressive showing against the Bruins two nights prior, apparently figured they'd already put in their work for the week. For all you guys out there wondering why Sabres fans seem to be growing increasingly impatient with a team that can undoubtedly skate with anyone in the league, last night's no-show was as good a reason as any.

I had to watch the game on about an hour delay because Christmas trees apparently can't set themselves up yet -- Hello? 2011! Can somebody figure this out already? -- so a live blog was out of the question. But I did jot down some notes as the game went along. In no particular order:

- Kevin Sylvester is not a good play by play man. I consider myself a fairly nice person, so I won't say anything more. I know he's got some impossible shoes to fill, but still.

- Lindy Ruff seriously does not know when to pull a goalie. He demonstrated this in Philly when he waited one goal too long to pull Miller. ﻿﻿﻿Enroth was the only reason it wasn't 5-0 after the first period, but once Buffalo went down 3-0 last night in the second, that was the right time for a wake-up call. This would have given the Sabres a sporting chance to win a game that was clearly all Columbus up to that point, but it was all over once Enroth let a little squibber go between his legs to make it 4-0.

But that's basically all you could fault Ruff for last night. Even though I often wish you could pull a coach, he can't skate for his team, and it was clear the Sabres figured they could just show up and that would be sufficient to beat the last place team in the league. Even though I literally can't remember the last time they won in Columbus.

- In yesterday's post I naively let my optimistic side show when I commented that we might actually see some jump out of Buffalo because they have quite a few kids up now for the injured regulars. But then during the game I said to myself, "Apparently there's not enough injuries yet."

You're welcome. I take full responsibility for jinxing Robyn Regehr, who left the game at some point during the second period. Just for the record, though, the Buffalo Sabres are honestly the only team in the NHL that can lose players without anything noticeable happening. I was pretty bourboned up by the third period, but I couldn't see anything happen to Regehr that would've caused him to leave the game.

- Yes, the injuries are starting to pile up for Buffalo, but there's not a team in the league that wouldn't make room overnight to add Vanek, Pominville, Leino, Stafford, Ehrhoff, or Leopold. They're all still healthy (yes, I know I just jinxed someone else tonight). Great teams really only need an effective system, two great forwards, two great defensemen, and a great goalie (or a good goalie who's playing great). Everyone else essentially is filler, and as long as everyone plays with tenacity a Cup is within reach. On paper Buffalo was still a better team last night; Columbus won because they wanted it more. Much more, as it turned out.

- Gerbe was invisible.

- I think T.J. Brennan could be fo' real.

- I've essentially given up hope that Leino will ever hit someone. Thankfully all his points earn him a pass.

- No intensity, no desperation, no finishing checks.

- So, Sabre dudes ... after six hours working in the yard yesterday, could you really do no better than to give me a game that was over in the first period? I mean, yeah yeah .. I obviously expected and predicted your fate, but do I have to be right all the friggin' time? All I wanted to do was lie on the couch with my drinks and watch some good hockey, and it turns out your performance was even more painful than my aching ass body.

What's with people's fascination with trees? They're like cats that continually shit all over your carpet.

November 25, 2011

So it turns out I'm not that bad at predictions after all, eh? While I was only off by a goal in predicting the Sabres loss, it was hardly because they were outmuscled or outworked by the Bruins. Injuries and a little fatigue seemed to get the better of them in the end, but if the guys put in 60 minutes of work every night, things will be looking up.

That said, I'm not exactly expecting a high intensity game tonight against Columbus. If either team does anything more than go through the motions the night after Thanksgiving, I'll be entirely impressed. In fact tonight might not be a bad time to get Drew MacIntyre his first start as a Sabre.

Why's that, you ask? I went to the Sabres-Caps game two years ago the day after Christmas and I wanted to shoot myself as both teams sloughed around like they got points for not giving a shit. The highlight of the game was wondering if my wife would ever find her purse after dropping it through the seats to the ground 20 feet below.

As far as tonight goes, maybe I'll be wrong and the Sabres will play with some jump considering they've got their fair share of minor leaguers in the lineup looking to prove they belong. One of them will be Zack Kassian, who makes his NHL debut in the wake of the Brad Boyes injury.

As Erik noted yesterday, the Boyes injury probably hurts most of all because you can't trade a guy with a bum wheel, and 4 mil a year's a big price tag for a power play specialist who rarely scores and spends his time bouncing around between the third and fourth lines.

In years past I'd be stressing all these injuries, but the Sabres tend to pull it together when they're down a few regulars. November's a great month to see what you've got down on the farm, and Sabres fans have likely noticed there's often a direct relationship between injuries and intensity during the games.

November 23, 2011

No word from the Sabres or Buffalo News yet, but I've been wondering the past couple days whether Lindarcy would call up some muscle in anticipation of the rematch tonight against the Bruins, especially with Weber and Myers already on the shelf.

Combine this with the fact that Cody McCormick's been out of the lineup and you kinda get the feeling tonight could get ugly (i.e., lots of Sabres bleeding) if anyone decides to take a run at Milan Lucic or Tim Thomas. Lucic would probably wreck McCormick fairly handily (again, Darcy, please trade for this guy), much less anyone else who decided to go toe to toe to ice with him.

The only players who even have a sporting chance of winning a fight tonight are Goose and Regehr, and even then you still have the prospect that Zdeno Chara would decide to get into the fray. Ever youtube any of his fights?

So again, I wonder if we'll see Zack Kassian or Marcus Foligno get a call. Kassian's known as more of a hitter than a fighter, but either of these guys would at least serve a couple purposes, the latter of which sounds bad but is entirely practical: 1) they bring some size and toughness to the lineup, and 2) if they end up with a broken hand you're not losing a guy off the regular roster.

Or maybe they're just banking on Jochen Hecht to fill the void, as he should make his return from a concussion tonight.

Of course, if I had to guess, I'd say we probably won't even see much attempt at retribution at all. And yes, I really hope I'm wrong. Not to the point where the Sabres take cheap shots or cost themselves the game by taking stupid penalties, mind you. But playing a full-on 60 minutes of desperate hockey and finishing checks sure would be nice.